Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Visual Art and It's Absence in Popular Culture

Okay, you may be saying to yourself right now, "What is he talking about, we have everything from graphic design to paintings in our houses." Think back in the times when culture held visual art in high regards. Such art movements as the Renaissance. Cafe's would bustle with the words of people talking about art as if it were a new movie or an article on yahoo. Not to say that those aren't an important part of our culture, but this question has been a topic of conversation of TAC for sometime now.

My initial explanation is convenience. It is easier to go online and look check out the new movies, go into a shop and talk about the new design on a skateboard or enter iTunes and see what is the most downloaded song of the week. From a 20-somewhat point of view, I have to venture outside of the usual sources of news in order to fine anything related to "fine art." It is hard to go to a gallery during Fresno's Art Hop and see a younger person, even older, look at a painting for more 5 seconds. "Ehhhh" or "I like this one" are common responses..

Being someone who spends 5 hours on the permanent exhibit at the SFMOMA, I feel that I am not in the right environment most of the time. It probably helps being an artist, but being able to take the time and look past the surface of a piece seems to be something that the general population does not do. Is it conditioning? Since everyone else is moving past the pieces like they are in a race, should you? This is not meant to criticize, just bring attention to something that may or may not actually be there. Am I crazy for thinking this? Am I not taking people's actions as critically as I should?

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